March 2018
Russian navy’s Arctic patrol vessels suffer delays of 3-4 years
President Putin almost looks upon the Arctic as his pet project, a really large pet project but his, and the fact the government budget can't come up with the loot to pay for the ships is an intriguing insight into Russia's true financial state. I guess even the
May 2018
"It’s an order from the Kremlin: shipping on Northern Sea Route to reach 80 million tons by 2024"
Oct. 2018
"New state commission takes on Putin’s big plan for the Arctic"
January 2019
Ministry hints Putin’s Arctic ambitions are not realistic
And the latest chapter from the Barent's Observer
Goods volumes on the Russian Arctic route reaches 26 million tons.
Russia’s development of the Arctic shipping route proceeds ahead of schedule. According to Rosatom, the state nuclear power company, shipping by 15th November exceeded 26 million tons.
That is an increase of more than 63 percent from the same period last year.
Shipping on the remote route could reach 30 million tons by the end of the year. In 2018, goods volumes totaled about 20 million tons.
The Northern Sea Route includes the waters between the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya and the Bering Strait, a distance of about 5,600 km. It offers shippers a significantly shorter route Europe and Asia than through the Suez Canal.
It is new Russian industrial projects in the Arctic that is behind the growth. The lion’s share of current shipments is LNG from Novatek’s natural gas installations in the Yamal Peninsula and oil from Gazprom Neft’s Novy Port project.
Meanwhile, transit shipments remain low. According to Rosatom, ships in the period brought 205,000 tons of goods across the route. A key part of it was shipped by Chinese shipping company COSCO....MORE
Back to the "Autocrat of all the Russias" post, here's the outro:
...North Korea's Kim Jong-Il had fifty-something titles including "Glorious General, Who Descended From Heaven" and "Dear Leader, Who is a Perfect Incarnation of the Appearance that a Leader Should Have," but I think the later Tsars had him beat in number if not in poetry, as noted elsewhere:
"By the Grace of God, We, NN, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias, Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod; Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of Chersonese Taurian, Tsar of Georgia; Lord of Pskov and Grand Prince of Smolensk, Lithuania, Volhynia, Podolia, Finland; Prince of Estland,....."
It goes on and on listing the territories and actually ends with:
"...hereditary Sovereign and Ruler of the Circassian and Mountain Princes and of others; Sovereign of Turkestan, Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Dietmarsen, Oldenburg, and so forth, and so forth, and so forth."
In future I'll just go with 'Putin' and avoid the temptation to do the Autocrat of All the Russias thing.
